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Monday, May 26, 2008

decision 2008

Seriously- I have a hard time with making decisions. I seriously think I burned 1000 calories today with all my decision making. I waffle back and forth. I don't want to settle. I try to wade through my flavor of the week impulses and go for the deepest truest desires. Here were some of my mental quandaries!

1. Shed decisions...what type of shed to get to keep the riding mower in (there are a must in new england) do we need the 8x12, will the 8x10 do, what about the grading of the are and putting down gravel? Which way should it face? Which options should we go for? If we put the shed there can we put up a basketball hoop and not have all stray balls roll into the poison ivy filled forest? Or should we do a patio slab by the walkout basement slider?

2. Couch decisions- we need a new couch (ours is fading in the sunlight- and has given 9 yrs good service- but what to get next? what style do we want to commit to for the next decade? fabric or leather? i really love my giant red couch and will probably get another big red couch because I am a red kind of person- but everyone always says leather- but I don't like the cold feeling of leather and I don't the like way you stick to it when you are sweaty- so I guess I am back to fabric. But could so many leather lovers be wrong? I do wear leather pants and like them?! Also I want to recover the office couch (which i never really picked out for my home- it wound up here by default as part of my husbands previous job office furniture). So where to find twill- do I want it creamy pale yellow? chocolate brown? darest I do white?

3. New grill- Our grill died. Therefore must buy new grill- which of the 3 reasonable consumer reports picks do i choose? Which store do we go to? Do we get that exact model or similar one with slightly different feature?

4. New plants for window sill- varigated? deep green? bright bold croton? should i get another really cool neon green plant for the family room or will i kill it? Do I let my son get an aloe vera plant and a cactus? or Just the cactus so i can throw out the dumb cactus garden that we've been growing for 2 years and can never getting any to grow taller than 1/2 inch without dying!

5. The stool and tall chair dilemma- the other week we bought a great wooden step stool at IKEA- we also have a great elevated chair- booster height -I love it - it gets my son up to a normal table chin ratio not shovelling food horizontally into his mouth but, it has been waiting to be painted for about 6 months? What color? white/black/red??

6. New light fixture for my bathroom- chrome, brushed nickel- which shape, how many lights? cheaper, more expensive?

8. Do we build a big addition over the studio room or just finish off the basement- do we move one of the kids to the current playroom? do we move the playroom to the basement? do we move my studio? Do we do a bathroom in the basement? Do we move the office couch there instead (it's a pull out bed) to make another guest space and buy another sleeper sofa for the office?? Are we going to move? is this all a moot point? smart daddy-o vests this august we said we''d stay minimum 7 years and we will have reached our mark? where should we go? when? what is the right thing for our family?

9. oh i almost forgot - a new kitchen table dilemmas my husband often disparages the "midcentury" (that's the new PC hip term for 60s) danish modern kitchen set we inherited from my uncle's mother when she passed away- I told my husband danish modern is back in and i guess i am sort of attached to it seeing as i grew up with danish modern my parents purchased when they got married? Should i trade up for a danish modern rectangle a guy is selling on craigslist for 60$- what about that cool Frank Lloyd wright craftsman table that comes with 10 chairs for 900$ Deep down I really want a pedestal round table-I really want the Eeo Saarinen tulip pedestal table they are remaking this year- but am I ready to take my house in a really contemporary direction? Am I ready to drop thousands for undoubtedly one of the coolest design tables of the last century? but back to rounds are they getting to trendy? i ma seeing them alot lately? will i regret it? should we just recover the chairs and stick with what we've got for another year or two?

10. Ice cream - my 7 year old is reading the book of mormon before his upcoming baptism in dec. and is half way through he gets a little incentive for every 50 pages- however cheap mom says why go to cold stone when you can go to stop and shop and get a whole container (in fact 2 because breyers is on sale 2 for $5) for the price of one small CSC treat. So there i stand beaten and exhausted trying to help 2 boys decide on their "own" containers of ice cream which we can use for treats for the next month and i of course had to buy a box - because although my freezer has 3 types of frozen novelties and 5 flavors already i need more? am in a chocolate mood? a fruity mood? gelatto? sorbet? sherbet?

10 comments:

lol. This is exactly the reason why the family room windows in my authentic mid-century home have been bare for 3 freaking years! But I finally had an inspiration and the treatments are fed-exing across the country as we speak. Sometimes I just wait for something to scream at me.

As for the table, the tulip would be cool, but I don't know if I like the chairs.

amber- i know just thinking about the thinking got exhausting so i left a few things out.

LL- oh the perils of mini rocks- I forgot those were the cause of a tues am drs run- and if you're in the market for a barn shed the best price around is a local guy here in town. I think you need one for the mistress and your gardening supplies

decisons, decisions..... hope you make ones that don't make you wonder if you made the right one! I hate when I do that! Tough choices. I think a red or black high chair would be perfect! You can figure out the rest yourself;-)

As for the shed, we just put up a 8 by 12,great space! Always go bigger in those decisions, we had to venture a new grill this year too...talk to jared about that...men and women don't always agree.So fun to be getting new things!

Holy cow smartmama, that's a lot of decisions. I love your kitchen table-- but it's too small for your family. So I'd go for the $60 table and then if you hate it for the kitchen, use it somewhere else in the house.

And could you find red leather? I'm in the process of getting my couch and loveseat in the fam rm steam cleaned and it's way pricey. I think next time I'm going for leather.

I agree on the bigger is better as far as the shed goes (as long as you have the space and the $$ for it). Coolest thing ever is that our new next door neighbors have a shed for their 'toys' and then the top story for a play house. It has a cool ladder and then a huge slide coming down. So I'd do that (if space and $$ were no object).

Couches. Go microfiber. Best decision we've made furniture wise. It's cleanable and durable but 'fabricky' feeling rather then sticky like leather. It used to just come in a 'suedey' finish but now there are lots more options.

This is why I love blogging! To share all of the things that we as women share and the men really could care less about. Some days I can't believe how hard it is to make ONE decision much less 10! We make so many small decisions on a daily basis for our families that I think we get burnt out! Sometimes I tell my husband you just make the decisions I am tired of making them, but then I am stuck with the outcome! Which is really bad if it is not what I want! Good luck on all the decisions!!

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**Disclaimer** I publish in rough draft, uncut form and I "just say no" to spell checker.

As a mom busy growing up 3 little boys, I want to teach them to be smart! And by that I mean to think, to make wise choices, to care about the important things, to help make the world better, and use up their lives on the things that really matter.